


Tell Me What You Want To Hear

by RuffNTumble



Series: Paily Collection [6]
Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, no beta we die like men, paily, paily anchors, spemily friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23941306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuffNTumble/pseuds/RuffNTumble
Summary: Author’s note: My take on the whole “Spencer finds out about Paige’s violent past” thing.TRIGGER WARNING: mention of attempted suicide and self-harm. If that’s not what you need to read right now, then I suggest you don’t.---Spencer knew she should say something. Anything. It was obvious that Paige hadn’t told Emily yet, given the state of bliss they were in, but now that Paige knew about A and Jenna and everything, Emily had a right to know about Paige.
Relationships: Emily Fields/Paige McCullers
Series: Paily Collection [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725283
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Tell Me What You Want To Hear

Spencer knew she should say something. Anything. It was obvious that Paige hadn’t told Emily yet, given the state of bliss they were in, but now that Paige knew about A and Jenna and everything, Emily had a right to know about Paige.

It wasn’t her place. Really, it wasn’t. But something had to be said. She may not have liked Paige a lot in the beginning, but she made Emily happy, and that was enough. Maybe by saying something, it would open a dialogue between them.

Spencer certainly wouldn’t forget that night for the rest of her life.  
\---  
“Hey, can we talk?”

Emily looked up at Spencer from her homework. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”  
Spencer took a deep breath. “It’s about Paige.”

Emily’s eyebrows went up, and she immediately got defensive. “Spencer, I told you, I forgave her for what happened, and you shouldn’t keep—“

“No, no, it’s not about that.” Spencer swallowed nervously. “I… do you remember the night you told me about, where she showed up on your front doorstep to apologize?”

Emily nodded. “Yeah. What about it?”

“W-Well… I… she didn’t… fall off her bike. When she hurt herself.” Spencer said softly, praying that she wasn’t going to have to go into detail.

“Spencer, what the hell are you going on about?”

“Look, just, I’m just trying to tell you that Paige … she—“

Emily got up and started packing up her books. “I don’t want to hear this.”

“Emily—“

“No, no, see Spencer, you don’t fucking get it. Just because you don’t like her, you think you can—“

“She fucking tried to kill herself that night, and the only reason I know is because my dad saw her almost jump off the bridge and he saved her life!” Spencer shouted.

Emily stared at Spencer. “What?”

“That night, he was driving home, and he saw her on the bridge, and he stopped her, but she hit her head before he could get to her.” Spencer tried not to cry at the look in Emily’s eyes. “Emily, I promise I’m not lying to you.”

“Whatever Spencer.” Emily grabbed the rest of her things and stormed out of the room, ignoring Spencer’s calls for her to come back, instead texting her girlfriend.

[Hey, can you meet me at my place? I want to ask you something.]  
\---  
“So, what’s up?” Paige asked, settling down on the end of Emily’s bed.

Emily looked down at the pillow in her lap, and then back up at her girlfriend.

“Spencer… told me something. About you. She said something that… I don’t want to believe, but I have to know if it’s true. We promised each other no more secrets, right? So… I want to know what happened the night you came and apologized to me for trying to… hurt me.”

Paige was quiet. She stared at her hands in lap, trying not to start shaking. She’d known that it might come up, but it was such a dark point in her past, and she’d gotten so much better since then that she was loathe to bring it up.

But she knew Emily’s secrets… so she should only be fair and tell Emily what happened. She only hoped Emily would still stay after she explained herself…

“That night, I was…not in a good place. After I went to apologize to you, I felt… so sick of myself. Sick of the lies I had to live, because I didn’t want my parents to know who I really was- I thought they’d kick me out, or worse. So…” Paige sighed, and then got up; taking off the button-up she had on and walked over to Emily. “They’re… faded, now, but…” on Paige’s wrists, Emily could make out the faint, faint scars. “I’d done it before, and gotten caught. This time, I thought I’d just not even bother with a note, or anything, and just… end it.”

Emily swallowed, feeling the tears bite at the edge of her vision. She bit her lip and let Paige continue.

“I rode my bike to the old bridge- you know the one by the river. And I stood there, in the rain, and I thought about what my parents would say when they found my body the next morning… what you would think. But it hurt so much that I couldn’t… take it. I climbed over the railing and I just… remember staring at the water. And then the next there’s this voice… a man. Calling me honey, telling me to step away, that it was okay, I didn’t have to jump. And I turned and it was Spencer and her dad.” Paige sighed, shaking her head.

“She looked horrified, and kind of sat there in the car and stared at me while Mr. Hastings was walking towards me, really slowly. And he asked what my name was, and I told him, and he said ‘Paige, come here, its okay; it’s going to be okay’. I wanted to believe him, and he got closer and I went to climb back over, but I slipped I guess and hit my head. When I woke up, I was at the hospital getting stitches.” Paige swallowed the tears, trying not to start crying. “My parents don’t really know what happened that night on the bridge, but they put me in therapy this past summer, and it’s really helped.”

Emily reached out and took her hand, squeezing. “Baby, I am so sorry you went through that alone.”

“It’s okay,” Paige said softly, a few tears escaping down her cheeks. “I got you, in the end, so… It’s okay now.”

Emily pulled Paige into a hug. “I love you,” she kissed one cheek, and then the other, “I love you,” her forehead, “I love you,” and finally her lips. “I love you.”

Paige kissed her back, “I love you too. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“It’s okay,” Emily said, “just… the next time there’s a big something you have to tell me, I’d prefer if Spencer didn’t shout it at me.”

Paige’s eyes went wide, “Wait, Spencer told you?”

“Yes, she did.” Emily kissed Paige’s cheek. “Don’t be mad, she was just trying to be a good friend.”

Paige sighed, “Okay.” She looked down at their entwined hands, and then back up at Emily. “Still mad at me?”

“I was never mad. But I can prove it, if you want…” Emily grinned a little, seeing the spark back in Paige’s eyes. “Come here you.” And she pulled Paige down for a kiss.  
\---  
[Hey.]

[Spencer, I know you’re there, text me back or I’ll text Toby]

**Hey**

[Paige told me everything. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.]

**its okay did you guys talk about what happened? **

[Yeah, we did.]

**Is she there? **

[Yeah]

**Naked? ;) **

[Spencer!]

**okay, okay. Got to go, Toby just got back with pizza **

[Is he gonna be naked too? ;) <3]

**hush ye woman**

[See you in school tomorrow?]

**of course <3 you**

[Love you too Spence.]


End file.
